There are so many makeup brushes out there that it’s easy to get confused, especially if you’re a beginner in the makeup world! In this article I put a simple Makeup Brushes And Their Uses guide to help you out!
It doesn’t matter if you just want to have fun or if you are aspiring to become a professional, this guide will help you to identify the right brushes from the everyday look, all up to great events!
Why Should You Use Makeup Brushes?
When you are doing your makeup, I know that we can use our fingers for almost everything, right? Even though many people prefer to solely use their thingers, there are certainly many advantages of using makeup brushes.
- Polish and professional finish
- More hygienic
- Makes application much easier, covering all areas of the face
- Applying makeup with fingers can transfer oiliness to the skin
Foundation Brushes
There are more than one types of foundation brushes and in this category we can also include the sponges. Down below we have a few examples of brushes you can use to apply foundation.
1. Slanted Flat Top Foundation Brush provides a quick and smooth foundation application. Use this type of brush to apply liquid, cream and powder foundation.
2. Square-shaped brush is great for an even distribution and blending your makeup foundation. It’s great for applying liquid, emulsion or cream foundations or products.
3. Flat, paddle-shaped foundation brush is perfect for a smooth finish and makes the application much easier to access every part of the face. Great for liquid and cream foundation.
4. Rounded slanted shape is one of the most used foundation brushes that will perfectly blend cream or liquid foundation.
5. Short, round, flat-topped brush provides an easy and smooth makeup application. You can use it to apply cream, emulsion and powder foundation, including pressed foundation.
Eyeshadow Makeup Brushes And Their Uses
There are a huge variety of eyeshadow brushes. Down below you can find more examples of eyeshadow makeup brushes and their uses.
1. Crease Brushes: They are excellent for depositing eyeshadow evenly and precisely. You can use them to apply eyeshadow to the crease or contour eyes.
2. Small round shadow brush: Perfect for applying eyeshadow on the lid. This brush is also great for layering different shadow colors.
3. Domed Shadow Brush Is a small brush for precise and optimal eyeshadow application.
4. Blending Crease Eyeshadow Brush goes really well to blend various eyeshadow shades, making it look more natural.
Eyeliner Brushes
1. Flat Definer Brushes have a squared flat shape and are ideal for applying makeup on the lash line. You can use it on gel, liquid or powder formulas.
2. Winged Liner brush, as the name says, is perfect for applying eyeliner with the wings on the side. You can use this brush with liquid, creamy and powder eyeliners.
3. The Small angled Brush is almost the same as the winged liner brush but it’s a bit bigger for bold lines.
4. Eyeliner brush is perfect for creating thick or thin lines with gel or liquid formulas.
5. Smudge Brush is ideal to smooth your eyeliner trace and to apply any color to your lashes.
6. Pencil Brush is great to create a smokey eye look, helping you tracing lines with precision.
Concealer Blushes
I prefer applying concealer with my fingers, but I cannot do it, because my skin gets irritated, reddish, so I need a fluffy blush. In my opinion, the best concealer blushes must be soft, because the skin under the eyes is easy to be worn out with continuous contrite.
In this article, I’m sharing three types of concealer brushes, you can decide for yourself which one you will try on!
1. Mini Dome Shape Concealer brush is my favorite because it’s very fluffy and soft. Use this brush to apply liquid and creamy concealers. It’s great to cover imperfections.
2. Tapered Brush Can be used to apply concealer and eyeshadow. Use it to apply cream, liquid or powder concealers.
3. Small Paddle With A Pointed Tip is ideal to apply concealer with precision, ideal to cover dark spots and other skin imperfections, use it for cream and liquid concealers.
Blush Brushes
Blush brushes are normally fluffy and kind of round a bit fat that are soft to apply. They ideally used to apply powder blushes, while you can apply liquid, creamy and sticky blushes with the fingers.
1. Round Paddle-Shaped Brush is great to apply powder and cream blushes, ideal for a perfect finish.
2. Large Angled Brushes can also be used to apply powder blush but I think this is a professional option because of the shape of the brush.
Highlighters Brushes
It is possible to use the powder or blush brush to apply the illuminator, but it is necessary to take very little product and apply it smoothly so as not to overdo the illuminator dose and get the appearance of oily skin due to the skin’s luminosity.
Of course it will be better if you can use brushes that are specific to highlighting so, for this, you can take a look at the following types of brushes.
1. A flat, fan-shaped brush
2. soft tapered brush
3. large and fluffy brush with a tapered tip
4. Small Fluffy dome shaped
Powder and Loose Products
Powder and loose powder brushes are normally round and fluffy but you can also use small brushes to apply powder in small specific areas such as under the eyes for example.
On the image above you can see a few examples of a few brushes you can use to apply powder:
1. The Kabuki face brush is versatile, allowing you to use it for bronzer, powder, or highlighter. It is very absorbing so, it may be a good idea to use this brush to apply loose powders.
2. Domed shaped brushes (number two on the image above) are great powder blurring brushes, can be used under the eye, on the brow area and around the nose. Ideal for loose or pressed powder.
3. Use the pointed brush powder for a light application and targeted contouring and is perfect for finalizing your makeup with contouring, highlighting.
4. Flat regular powder brush is versatile and can be used with any powder product however, I think this works best with powder, pressed powder foundations.
5. The Medium sized powder brush is ideal to apply the product in specific areas such as eyelids, under the eyes and around the nose.
Face contour brushes
Regular Contouring Brush
You can use the Regular contouring brush (softly rounded dome tip) for applying, blending or contouring powder makeup smoothly.
Slanted Brushes
I think slanted brushes are great for contouring because it has an angle that makes the application much easier. Down below you can see two examples.
Brow Brushes
Short Angled
If you want to correct brows imperfections and white spaces, it is a good idea to opt for a short angled brush that will definitely provide a natural look.
The smaller the angle brush is, the easier it will get to fill your eyebrow gaps with precision. For better results, start from the inner corner going all the way to the left.
Brush To Comb
You can use this small brush to comp your brows while painting it with a corrective eyebrow cream. Remember to clean it very well, this way you can also use this brush on your lashes.
Bronzer Blushes
Opte for round big fluffy blushes for bronzing as they will give you a natural look. Try to avoid flat brushes, but you can still try angled brushes.
However, I think the best options are the round brushes, which will be perfect for blending bronzing powders.
Natural Vs synthetic bristle brushes
You can choose between natural or synthetic bristle brushes. I have to say that there are many synthetic versions that are more hygienic and that are so soft that you will probably prefer them. However we must say that natural brushes are known to be very soft.
Makeup Brushes FAQ
1. How often should I buy Makeup Brushes?
Normally, you can buy new makeup brushes every three to five years. It will depend on how well you store and clean these brushes.
2. Which Makeup Brushes Do I Need?
There are so many different types of makeup brushes that it’s easy to get confused on what we really need. To get started, you need a foundation, a concealer, blush brush and crease blush for eyeshadow.
When you start to get more advanced, then you can get contouring and a highlighting brush. After you get comfortable by using these initial brushes, you can move to more specific ones.
3. Are Makeup Brushes Bad For The Skin?
No. I actually think that applying makeup with brushes will help you to add less pressure to the skin, which is a nice thing as o
